Blade sharpener for steak machines



06L 1 5 c. B. ROBBINS 2,765,681

BLADE SHARPENER FOR STEAK MACHINES Filed Jan. 14, 1955 INVENTOR. CLIFFORD B-TZOBE\N$ ATTORNEYS BLADE SRPENER FOR STEAK MACHINES Clifford B. Robbins, Tampa, Fla.

Application January 14, 1955, Serial No. 481,785

4 Claims. (Cl. 76--86) A widely known and efficiently operating machine for cutting steaks includes a plurality of cutter rolls each of which has a large number of thin, circular, rotary blades spaced closely from one another along the length of the roll. Each blade is formed with a circumferential series of teeth which lean so to speak, in the direction of rotation of the blade while maintained in the plane of the blade. The teeth are sharpened along their outer edges, that is, the circumferential edge of their associated blade, and of course, in order to keep the machine in proper operating condition, it is desirable that the blades be maintained in a fully sharp condition at all times.

However, it has been found that it is exceedingly difficult to keep the blades of the cutter rolls sharp, due to the unusual shape of the teeth, and the exceptionally large number of individual teeth that must be sharpened. Due to the difficulty of sharpening the cutter blades, it has been the practice, among users of machines of the type referred to, to permit the blades to become dull, and this, of course, reduces measurably the operating efficiency of the device.

The main object of the present invention, in view of the diificulties which have heretofore persisted in sharpening the several teeth of the cutter blades of machines of the type stated, is to provide an improved sharpener, which can be applied to the cutter rolls in such a way as to cause the several blades to be sharpened responsive to operation of the machine.

Another object of importance is to provide a device as stated which will sharpen the several blades without requiring disassembly of the machine.

Yet another object of importance is to provide a sharpening device as described which, despite its efficiency in sharpening cutter blades of a steak machine, can still be manufactured at exceptionally low cost.

A further object of importance is to provide a device as described which will permit all the blades of a steak machine to be sharpened in a very short time, the construction being such as to permit one to sharpen all the blades of a steak machine in perhaps one-half or one minute.

Still another object is to provide a device as stated which will be characterized by its ease of disassembly, so as to permit cleaning of the sharpener and replacement of the sharpening steels whenever desired.

Still another object is to provide, in a sharpener as described, a mounting for the sharpener steels which will cause said steels to be freely rotatable while the sharpening operation is being carried out, so as to present continually new sharpening surfaces to the teeth of the cutter blades.

A further object of importance is to provide a relative formation and arrangement of the rotating sharpening steels that will be such as to grind opposed concave surfaces on opposite sides of the cutter blade teeth, so that in efiect the teeth are honed to a razor sharpness, but are not filed away. It may be noted that heretofore, the custom in distributing steak machines of the type stated 2,765,68i Patented Oct. 9, 1956 has been to distribute with each machine a three-cornered hand file, which, of course, causes the blade surfaces to be filed away. Further, the use of a hand file of the type referred to promotes inaccuracy of sharpening, and is too laborious and time-consuming in use, so as to cause the steak machine users to ignore completely the necessity of sharpening their machines. With the present invention, it is possible to swiftly apply the sharpening device to the several cutter blades of the machine after each use of the machine, to lightly resharpen the blades, thus to keep the machine always in a fully sharpened condition, ready for the next use.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawings, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a steak machine, to which has been applied a sharpening device formed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary longitudinal sectional view through the sharpening device, the cutter roll of the steak machine being shown in transverse section;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 33 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the device, the handle being partly broken away.

The reference numeral 15) has been applied generally in the several figures in the drawing to a conventional steak machine of the type previously discussed herein. Such a machine includes a plurality of meshing, parallel cutter rolls, to each of which, in turn, the sharpening device 12 constituting the present invention can be readily applied.

Each of the cutter rolls in the steak machine includes a shaft 14, a substantial number of circular, rotary cutting blades 16 carried by the shaft, and annular separator washers 17 alternating with the respective blades to space the same closely apart throughout the length of the shaft. Each of the blades is formed with a circumferential series of approximately trapezoidal teeth 18, which lean in the direction of rotation of the blades. The larger number of teeth on each blade, the substantial number of blades on each roll, and the incorporation of a plurality of cutter rolls on each machine makes formidable the task of sharpening of the individual teeth of the machine, as will be readily appreciated.

The machine so far described herein does not, of course, constitute part of the present invention. The invention has been designated generally at 12, and includes a straight handle 20 which, if desired, can be tubularly formed for lightness without sacrificing strength. On one end, the handle 20 is cast integrally with a knob 22 to facilitate grasping of the handle by a user. On its other end, the handle 26 is integrally formed with a rectangular head 24, having a flat underside lying in a plane normal to the length of the handle, the underside of said head being provided with a transverse, shallow, straight recess 26.

integrally formed upon the underside of the head 24, and depending from said head at opposite sides of the recess 26, are guide teeth 28. The guide teeth 28 are arranged in two, straight rows paraliel to the recess 26. The several guide teeth of each row are identical to one another, and the teeth in the other row are identical to but opposite from the teeth of the first-named row. Each tooth is formed as a flat plate element which, at its inner end, that is, the end integrally connected to the underside of head 24, is formed with an angular recess 30. Each plate element is of a width (see Figure 3) slightly less than the space between each pair of adjacent cutter blades 16. The angular recesses 30 of the several guide teeth 28 define bearing recesses, the top surfaces of which are defined by the underside of the head 24 at opposite sides of the center recess 25 of said head. In the upper surfaces of the bearing re sses there are formed elongated grooves each of which is formed as a cylindrical bore opening at one side into the recesses 30. In the grooves there are seated steel bearing pins 32 which project slightly into the bearing recesses through the open bottoms of the bores defining the grooves. The pins 32 are extended in paral lelism with the rows of guide teeth 28, and are perpendicular to a plurality of sharpening steels 34 extending transversely of and below recess 26 with their ends seated in the respective bearing recesses 30.

The pins 32 touch the sharpening steels, so as to provide minimum frictional engagement between the sharpening steels and the associated portions of the head of the device. As a result, the sharpening steels are freely rotatable, in positions in which they are closely spaced, parallel relation to one another as shown in Figure 3.

To confine the sharpening steels in their assigned positions, there are provided side plates 36, 3S respectively, having openings registering with one another and with transverse openings formed in the head 24. The openings of the side plate 38 are threaded, and extending through the several registering openings are screws 4-9, which are adapted to detachably but fixedly connect the side plates to one another and to the head 24 at opposite sides of the head. The side plates, at their lower ends, are formed with hoololike, arcuate extensions 4.2, 44 which are adapted to bear against selected separator washers 17 in the manner shown in Figure 2 when the device is in use.

By reason of the construction illustrated and described, it is merely necessary that the sharpener be positioned as shown in Figures 2 and 3. Thereafter, the steak machine is turned on, and as the cutter rolls rotate, the teeth 13 will be sharpened by the steels 3 It will be noted, in this regard, that the sharpening device is so located when in use as to cause each blade 16 being sharpened to be disposed with its cutting edges moving in a plane tangential to both steels of each pair of adjacent steels 34. As a result, the steels of said pair exert an abrasive action against opposite sides of the cutting edge of each tooth 18 during rotation of the blade 16, and hone down the cutting edge by formation of concave side surfaces on said edge. Each tooth 18 is thus sharpened to an exceptionally fine degree, without filing down the teeth in any manner.

It will be observed that due to the particular mounting of the steels 34, the steels are freely rotatable, and they will tend to rotate during the rotation of blades 16 as the sharpening proceeds. As a result, continuously new surfaces of the steels are being presented to the blades at all times, so as to maintain the efiiciency of the Sharpening device over an exceptionally long period of time. Of course, the device is characterized by its ease of disassembly, so that at any time, the side plates can be removed, so as to expose all the sharpening steels for replacement. The pins 32, it will be noted, provide bearing surfaces for the sharpening steels, overlying the sharpening steels. As a result, when the device is brought downwardly against the blades being sharpened, the sharpening steels will be lifted out of contact with the bottom surfaces of the recesses 3i), and will also be substantially out of contact with the respective end surfaces of the recesses 30. The sharpening steels will be in contact with the associated portions of the sharpening device only at the tops of the sharpening steels, and this contact will be held to a minimum due to the use of the pins 32, arranged perpendicularly to the lengths of the sharpening steels.

It will further be observed that during the sharpening, the guide teeth 28 of the sharpening device will serve to maintain the blades 16 in proper positions, be-

tween the several sharpening steels all as shown in Figure 3.

Still further, the device is characterized by its adaptability for sharpening the several blades without requiring disassembly of the machine in any way. As a rcstilt, in view of the speed with which the several blades can be sharpened, and in view, further, of the fact that the machine need not be disassembled, the steak machine can be sharpened after each use, so as to be maintained in proper operating condition at all times.

it is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to he illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A sharpening device for a machine of the type including at least one cutter roll having a series of rotary blades and a series of separator washers alternating with the blades to space the blades longitudinally of the roll, comprising: a head; guide plates extending from the head at opposite sides thereof to engage against selected separator washers of the cutter roll for supporting the head in a predetermined position relative to a group of blades disposed between the selected washers; closely spaced guide teeth extending from the head between the guide plates for extension into the spaces between adjacent blades of said group; and a plurality of sharpening steels supported by said guide teeth in parallel, substantially contacting, side-by-side relation, so as to bear against opposite surfaces of the respective blades of said group on extension of the guide teeth into the spaces between the blades.

2. A sharpening device for a machine of the type including at least one cutter roll having a series of rotary blades and a series of separator washers alternating with the blades to space the blades longitudinally of the roll, comprising: a head; guide plates extending from the head at opposite sides thereof, to engage against selected separator washers of the cutter roll for supporting the head in a predetermined position relative to a group of blades disposed between the selected washers; closely spaced guide teeth extending from the head between the guide plates for extension into the spaces between adjacent blades of said group, said guide teeth being arranged in two parallel rows extending between the plates, the teeth of the respective rows having confronting bearing recesses; and a plurality of sharpening steels rotatably supported at their ends in said bearing recesses and extending between the rows in perpendicular relation thereto, said guide teeth being disposed in parallel, substantially contacting, side-by-side relation, so as to bear against opposite surfaces of the respective blades of said group on extension of the guide teeth into the spaces between the blades.

3. A sharpening device for a machine of the type including at least one cutter roll having a series of rotary blades and a series of separator washers alternating with the blades to space the blades longitudinally of the roll, comprising: a head; guide plates extending from the head at opposite sides thereof, to engage against selected separator washers of the cutter roll for supporting the head in a predetermined position relative to a group of biades disposed between the selected washers; closely spaced guide teeth extending from the head between the guide plates for extension into the spaces between adjacent blades of said group, said guide teeth being arranged in two parallel rows extending between the plates, the teeth of the respective rows having confronting bearing recesses; a plurality of sharpening steels rotatably supported at their ends in said bearing recesses and extending between the rows in perpend cular relation thereto, said guide teeth being disposed in parallel, substantially contacting, side-by-side relation, so as to bear against opposite surfaces of the respective blades of said group on extension of the guide teeth into the spaces between the blades; and a pair of cylindrical bearing pins extending perpendicularly to the length of the sharpening steels and mounted in said head in positions in which the pins extend tangentially to the respective steels in contacting relation therewith, over the ends of the respective steels.

4. A sharpening device for a machine of the type including at least one cutter roll having a series of rotary blades and a series of separator washers alternating with the blades to space the blades longitudinally of the roll, comprising: a head; guide plates extending from the head at opposite sides thereof, to engage against selected separator washers of the cutter roll for supporting the head in a predetermined position relative to a group of blades disposed between the selected washers; closely spaced guide teeth extending from the head between the guide plates for extension into the spaces between adjacent blades of said group, said guide teeth being arranged in two parallel rows extending between the plates, the teeth of the respective rows having confronting bearing recesses; a plurality of sharpening steels rotatably supported at their ends in said bearing recesses and extending between the rows in perpendicular relation thereto, said guide teeth being disposed in parallel, substantially contacting, side-by-side relation, so as to bear against opposite surfaces of the respective blades of said group on extension of the guide teeth into the spaces between the blades; pair of cylindrical bearing pins extending perpendicularly to the length of the sharpening steels and mounted in said head in positions in which the pins extend tangentially to the respective steels in contacting relation therewith, over the ends of the respective steels; and an elongated handle rigid with said head, said handle having its length disposed normally to the length of the several sharpening steels.

Beaudin Mar. 9, 1897 Ringland July 28, 1908 

